Here’s something else I realized about Justified after watching last night’s episode: there’s nothing minor about this show, in the conventional sense, anyway. Even once-small characters like Ella Mae and Delroy are likely to turn back up (running for her life and getting a shotgun blast courtesy of Ava respectively). As I mentioned before, this is actually kind of neat, because it makes the characters feel like more than just a blip on our radar. Knowing that any of them could potentially be important later on makes me much more invested in them than I would the witness/victim/passerby in a procedural show, for example.
But that phrase also applies to the major characters as well, in that they’re not just well-established characters, many of them almost feel larger than life at this point. It of course starts with Raylan, who has this infamous reputation, and thanks to how he’s written and that Timothy Olyphant swagger, I believe he really is this force not to be trifled with. A lot of shows talk about how their hero is the best there is at what he does and never prove it, but Justified proves it pretty much every episode with Raylan. There’s electricity when he’s in the room.
Yet he’s not the only vivid character. Walton Goggins is so fantastic when Boyd’s let loose; his scene at the debate was classic Boyd and no one could have done it better. It was a show, for sure, reminding us of why Boyd is a leader and not a follower. He knows how to manipulate people very well.
His other half, Joelle Carter‘s Ava Crowder, started to come into her own last year and has become an all-out badass this year. On paper at the beginning of the show, Ava looked like the cliched love interest. She could not be farther from that in Carter’s hands. It’s been a real thrill to watch her develop Ava into a strong woman who, as seen has night, could reasonably be feared. (Though what was up with Raylan trying to kiss her? You had your shot at that, man, and you blew it by deciding to cheat on her with your ex-wife. Take a step back.)
And that’s before we get to Robert Quarles. He was hardly present in this episode, but Neal McDonough pretty much stole the one major scene that he was in with his expressions of utter boredom. McDonough has been one of my favorite actors since he dominated Boomtown, and as I stated earlier in the season, he’s a great fit for Justified. He’s made Quarles a complete psycho whose presence is felt even when he’s not in the room. (In real life, as is usually the case, he’s the nicest guy; check out my recent interview with him if you don’t believe me.)
Then there’s the plot. We get rid of Tanner by having him standing on a land mine? A land mine?! The last show I watched that had a character on a land mine was The Unit, and that was a military show. But this series loves to do things big, like huge explosions to dispatch a bad guy (and a cameo from Conor O’Farrell, who’s been on every procedural show ever, it feels like). As if that wasn’t enough, I actually felt sad for Tanner’s mom when she was left with nothing but that shiny new TV remote. That’s not supposed to happen when a minor character dies!
But this is Justified, where things are just plain done differently than most other scripted drama shows. Even the minor characters matter. The major characters earn their bragging rights. The entire preview for the next episode consists of an excerpt from one single scene because that scene is that good. From the writers to the crew and the cast, these people really attack what a scripted drama is and could be — and that’s why, to me, this show is the best on television.
Clacked by Brittany Frederick 
on Mar 14, 2012 @ 14:32 EST5EDT
